Another historic first: buying a cinema ticket at the senior citizen's rate of $5! And what did I watch? "The Mandalorean and Grogu". For a Star Wars spinoff, this one was a silly fun ride. Outside of the Skywalker circle, the galaxy feels gritty and street-level. The stakes are personal. Single dad, blue-collar work, getting down and dirty required. The mission is kill or capture (preferably capture) ex-Imperial officers who are hoping to one day revive the Empire while currently running their own criminal empires.
Mando gets into some amazing action sequences, adept as he is in hand-to hand, blaster, arial and space combat. So while the scale of the conflict is comparatively small, the size of the explosions are still franchise-worthy. And a lot of animal cruelty is par for the course for Mando, granted they are all trying to eat him first.
But it wouldn't be "The Mando... and Grogu" if the 50 year-old baby didn't get to take centrestage for an adventure of his own -- with Babu Frik and his workshop crew assisting. It's funny that Grogu wants so much to fight like his Dad, but his assets have more to do with the make friends and influence people persuasion.
Little of what happens in this movie has much to do with the greater conflict. Mando is a contractor with the New Republic, which trusts him enough to replace his previously destroyed Razor Crest with a beautifully restored stock model -- which he immediately guts for speed and functionality. He's clearly not about to flip it for coin.
But that's just it. The plot didn't have to be even set in the Star Wars universe to be engaging. But the fact that it does gives it a huge lift. That AT-AT walkers are frantically blasting and stomping at Mando as he zips among their quadruped legs, causing mayhem; the thrill of an x-wing squadron swooping in along with that swell of William's theme, no lightsabers, and the recurrence of later characters like Rebels' Zeb, that old guy from Kim's Convenience, and Sigourney Weaver finally making an appearance, dealing with aliens she can at least negotiate with... it's a lot of fan service and great vibes all around.
5 bucks gets you quite a bit of happiness when you're old.
